This invention relates in general to a dental bondable retainer for use in the dental treatment of patients and more particularly to a retainer made of a braided fibrous material which has been pre-impregnated with a light curable bonding resin which is transported in an opaque container prior to and during installation.
Heretofore, it has been well known to fabricate preformed or custommade bondable retainers from round or rectangular solid or twisted wire and to bond the wire to adjacent teeth using methods described in the prior art such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,938 and incorporated herein by reference. Further, it has been known to use a twisted fibrous material as a dental retainer which is bonded to adjacent teeth using a bonding cement such as a polymerizable resin as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,229 and incorporated herein by reference.
Many problems have been encountered with the use of bondable fibrous retainers in the processes of handling, trimming, resin coating, placement on the teeth and bonding. Heretofore, the dental practitioner has prepared a length of twisted fibers by first trimming to length by cutting to fit the dental arch length in need of retention. The cutting process often results in untwisting and fraying of the twisted fibers. These fibers are then coated with a commercially available light curable bonding resin which results in a further degradation of the retainer quality by increased untwisting and fraying. The teeth are prepared for bonding of the retainer with an acid etching process which is well known in the art.
Placement of the resin coated fiber retainer on the inside of the patient's teeth and subsequent bonding of the fiber to each individual tooth is difficult while maintaining the already diminished integrity of the twisted fiber.
Another problem is encountered in the process of bonding the retainer to each individual tooth in sequence. Since the retainer has been coated with the light curable bonding resin over its complete length, the curing light source bleeds over and causes the resin to be cured in undesired areas. Ideally, only that resin involved in the bonding to a single tooth should be cured. Premature curing of adjacent areas serves to increase the difficulty of the installation process and the final result is often less precise than that which could have been attained if the resin hardening was confined to a specific area.
Known in the art and available to dental practitioners in the commercial marketplace is a fiber retainer made out of Kevlar.RTM. and sold by OREC.RTM. Corporation. Said retainer fiber is a longitudinally oriented twisted thread that tends to untwist and fray when cut or coated with bonding resin making handling and installation difficult with a less than desired result. Also, the yellow color of the Kevlar.RTM. material does not blend with the color of the teeth making for a noticeable retainer which is undesirable from the patient's perspective.
Overall, due to these problems, the installation of the retainer is difficult, the resulting function is impaired, and the final result is aesthetically less than desirable. As will become apparent from the following disclosure, the devices and processes for retention of teeth described herein overcome these difficulties resulting in an improved dental result.